# What sci-fi story would you like to see made into a movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418 "2005-12-06T22:09:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/41 "2005-12-07T04:33:00Z")
In addition to agreeing with several of the suggestions already made, I’d add _Nightwings_ by Robert Silverberg, _The Well of Souls_ by Jack Chalker (imagine the CGI you’d need), _The Harvest_ by Robert Charles Wilson, _The Practice Effect_ by David Brin (or _Glory Season_ or _The Life Eaters_ or a better remake of _The Postman_), or the Worldwar series by Harry Turtledove done as a miniseries. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/42 "2005-12-07T04:43:29Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > or the Worldwar series by Harry Turtledove done as a miniseries. Ah, can’t believe I didn’t mention that one. :smack: I agree completely…it would make a kick ass mini-series. -XT ---
**Author:** ![gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardener)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/43 "2005-12-07T04:46:09Z")
Joe Haldeman’s _The Forever War_. With room for battle scenes and explosions, it’s one that Hollywood might actually be able to make while remaining somewhat true to the idea that drives the story. ---
**Author:** ![ninevah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/46a35a/32.png) [@ninevah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninevah)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/44 "2005-12-07T04:49:31Z")
**Left Hand of Darkness** by Ursula LeGuin. for 2 reasons: 1. so it could explain to me what the hell that book was about 2. I’d be interested to see how they portray the gender-less society ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/45 "2005-12-07T04:54:27Z")
The Night’s Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton. Lots of action, sex, satanism and possession. The good guys win more or less. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/46 "2005-12-07T05:03:06Z")
“Inconstant Moon” was done as an episode of the new Outer Limits. It wasn’t bad. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/47 "2005-12-07T07:12:37Z")
Having just read _The Forever War_ (alternating Hugo/Nebula winners between more bulky novels and nonfiction), it brings back a recurrent problem with sci-fi: so much is not plot driven. It is not a problem I, or the sci-fi fans here, have – we read the books usually to be transported into different worlds, not so we can watch plot and character arcs unfold. Unfortunately, transported into a different world just doesn’t work in a movie. Think the dreadful first _Harry Potter_ movie (yes I know not sci-fi) as a perfect example – you end up with a bunch of actors spending have their time gaping at stuff. The movies only got better when they started ignoring the fantastic worlds and actually started living in them. That’s what made _Lord of the Rings_ great – a minimum of the hobbits sitting around exclaiming how incredible everything is. You need to sell it with a plot, like _The Matrix_ tried to do. _The Forever War_ was great – it was truly visionary, Haldeman has such a great imagination, etc. Same with so many of the hard sci-fi and dystopian guys: Larry Niven, Neal Stephenson, David Brin, come to mind. IMHO the movies that work are often the ones written by the authors who know less about science and more about fiction. Ray Bradbury, Philip Dick, Stanislaw Lem come to mind. So I look for those kinds of things, and here’s my list: -_Ender’s Game_ although it will be dicey cause you’ll need an incredible child actor. Just cause you know it is going to happen and you know you’ll be first in line to see it. -_A Canticle for Leibowitz_ although the story line seems a bit dated now. -_A Deepness in the Sky_ by Vernor Vinge although this is probably best approached in a mini-series or a series of mini-series. That book had so much plot in it that 6 hours probably can’t do it justice. Perhaps it can be given the Battlestar Galactica treatment – start with a miniseries and work it into a network show. -The one that I would kill to see, though, is my favorite underrated sci-fi/fantasy series, the Pleiocene/Intervention/Galactic Milieu series by Julian May (starting with _The Many Colored Land_). The series is about humanity after intervention by a collective of alien worlds, bringing Earth into peaceful galactic society kind of run by psychics. It is a total of 9 books spanning over 6 million years, all with a great set of characters that are usually quite compelling. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/48 "2005-12-07T07:58:26Z")
I’d (selfishly) like to see Banks’ _Player of Games_ made into a movie. Or any Culture/almost Culture novel. Mieville would be good too - esp. _The Scar_ Also, I think Brin’s _Uplift War_ would be a good movie too - talking apes, but they’re on our side! Evil chickens! Hot telepathic elves! The rest of the Uplift stuff after that, as a series - really _alien_ aliens rock! It’s a pity a _Dragon’s Egg_ movie would be really hard to do, I think. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/49 "2005-12-07T08:56:48Z")
I’d (selfishly) like to see Banks’ _Player of Games_ made into a movie. Or any Culture/almost Culture novel. Mieville would be good too - esp. _The Scar_ Also, I think Brin’s _Uplift War_ would be a good movie too - talking apes, but they’re on our side! Evil chickens! Hot telepathic elves! The rest of the Uplift stuff after that, as a series - really _alien_ aliens rock! It’s a pity a _Dragon’s Egg_ movie would be really hard to do, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/50 "2005-12-07T11:08:43Z")
> [@Hung Mung](#): > > The Night’s Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton. Lots of action, sex, satanism and possession. The good guys win more or less. _Night’s Dawn_ would take about five television seasons to tell. It has a dozen or so story lines, each with it’s own characters. The episodes would have to be animated, or they’d cost a couple of million apiece, at least. Right now I’m reading _Asecond chance at Eden_, a series of stories sketching the Night’s Dawn’s universe’s history. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/51 "2005-12-07T12:06:03Z")
Argh. I can’t believe we’ve missed this one: PERN McCaffrey’s Pern would have great visuals and a good plot. The dialog from the first couple of books would have to be revamped quite a bit (stilted beyond belief!) but I think it could be done. ---
**Author:** ![grey\_ideas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@grey\_ideas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grey_ideas)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/52 "2005-12-07T13:09:32Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I’d (selfishly) like to see Banks’ _Player of Games_ made into a movie. Or any Culture/almost Culture novel. Actually I think PoG was the only one of Bank’s novels to even get near to the big screen, I knew I’d read it somewhere but a very quick google search [found](http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/); > [@](#): > > News: You’ll be interested to know that PathéGuild, the makers of The Blair Witch Project and a load of other stuff have bought the rights to The Player of Games and the movie is apparently in production as we speak. Obviously they know quality SF when they see it. My only hope is that they don’t screw it up, so all of the Culture novels can become movies. I think that is pretty old news, but I could be wrong of course. I would like to see the Culture books made into movies (although at the moment I’d just like another Culture book!) but I think some of them would have to be watered down so much they’d just become weak copies. If I remember rightly the rights to Richard Morgan’s “Altered Carbon” have been bought as well, also a while ago and I don’t think there is anything recent on whether they will actually make the film. I’d like to see some of Niven and Pournelles work make it to the big screen, “Footfall” or “The Mote in God’s Eye” would be favourites. grey\_ideas ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/53 "2005-12-07T14:15:31Z")
Besides some of the ones suggested above, I’d like to see some other classics done. With CGI you could do great things: **The Arena** by Fredric Brown. Taking a short story and expanding it to fill your two hour movie time slot is, I think, better than trying to pare down a complex novel, especially in a field like science fiction. Area has been done and stolen often enough, but nobody’s done the real thing – th Star Trek episosde nominally based on it changed too much, especially the ending. “Fu and Games” on Outer Limits used the basic concept, but didn’t really tell the same story. I’ve been filming this one in my head for years. I think you could do it real justice, and even do it without voice-over narration (or haning the hero talk to himself). It’s be a hell of a story. Another one I’ve been filming in my head is **The Stars my Destination** ( **Tigher,Tiger!** in the UK) by Alfred Bester – The opening, again done without voiceover, would be a _killer_ – Gully Foyle shooting the flare from his ruined starship, seeing his rescuer coming to his ship, then abruptly _leaving_ without rescuing him. Show Foyle screaming in his helmet, but silently (In Space, no one can hear you Curse), then abruptly switch to his POV, you hear the hissing of his oxygen tank as you look out through his claustrophobic helmet window at your hope of rescue fading away and _now_ you hear Foyle shouting “I Kill You Deadly, Vorga!” as he finds his Reason for Being. It’s be a classic cinema moment – and the story goes on from there, filled with memorable moments practicaly made for cinema – the Escape from the Space Colony, the Jaunting Stages, the Toy Railroad, the Infrared ision, The Burning Man. Damn, this could be good! But in the wrong hands, especially if they toss out the story as Hollywood usually does, this would make a really bad Movie of the Week. Similarly, Bester’s **The Demolished Man** would, in the right hands, be Great – in a society of telepaths, how do you commit the perfect murder, and get away with it. The Telepath Scenese would make or break this film. Done correctly, with wit and originality, you’d bowl over the audience/. Do it by showing people with perfectly still heads and echo-chamber recorded voice-overs, and you’vwe got cliche bad SF that’ll kill the movie. And, as you’d suspect ftrom my name, I’d like to see **This Island Earth** done, but right this time. They virtually threw out the book last time, and even the part they kept relatively faithful – the building of the Interociter – they bollixed up. All of that just scratches the surface. I’m sure there are plenty of classic short stories from the 1940s and 1950s that would make great flicks, now that we’ve got the capability. Early Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, or Brown, Sheckley, Tenn, or others would be great stuff. Why, in Og’s name did they do a bad adaptation of **a Sound of Thunder** rather than a good version of **a Gun for Dinosaur**? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/54 "2005-12-07T15:01:57Z")
I would like to see Moon is a Harsh Mistress done by a good director with few stars used. Lots of good character actors. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Emilio\_Lizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Emilio\_Lizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilio_Lizardo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/55 "2005-12-07T17:58:15Z")
**Ubik** by Philip K Dick. Lots of Dick-ish “what is reality” issues with a fairly linear plot. **Snow Crash** by Neal Stephenson. Great cyber-scifi story. **Interface** by Stephen Bury, a pseudonym for Neal Stephenson. Excellent political thriller. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/56 "2005-12-07T17:58:51Z")
_Good Omens_ would be great, especially after _Constantine_’s debut a while back… Also, Diane Duane’s _So You Want to Be a Wizard?_ series would be fantastic… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/57 "2005-12-07T18:01:12Z")
I’d like to see a film adaptation of some story in Bruce Sterling’s “Shaper/Mechanist” series – [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaper/Mechanist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaper/Mechanist). The 1982 short story “Swarm,” in particular, could be an FX-rich movie – with a distinctly depressing and un-Hollywood ending which they’d damned well better keep! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/58 "2005-12-07T18:03:34Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’m sure there are plenty of classic short stories from the 1940s and 1950s that would make great flicks, now that we’ve got the capability. Early Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, or Brown, Sheckley, Tenn, or others would be great stuff. True, but the science and technology in most such stories seems rather dated now, unless you want to give them the _Brazil_ or _Sky Captain_ treatment. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/59 "2005-12-07T18:10:27Z")
> [@Emilio Lizardo](#): > > **Ubik** by Philip K Dick. Lots of Dick-ish “what is reality” issues with a fairly linear plot. Meh . . . I’ve never read _Ubik._ But I think Hollywood should be very careful, in the future, in considering “what is reality” stories. I mean, there’s only so much you can do with making your characters wonder, “Am I in reality now, or still in a virtual-reality simulation?” or “What’s really going on behind the scenery?” Between _The Thirteenth Floor, eXistenz, Dark City_ and _The Matrix_,\* the concept has pretty much been hammered into the ground. \*(Not to mention the “Better than Life” episode of _Red Dwarf._😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/60 "2005-12-07T18:14:23Z")
I’d really, really like to see an adaptation of Wilson & Shea’s _Illuminatus_ trilogy. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminatus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminatus) However, to work, it would have to be a non-updated 1970s period piece. And the story is too long and complicated for even a trilogy of movies. It would have to be a miniseries. And the only outfit that could or would take on such a project would be . . . the Sci-Fi Channel . . . let’s just forget I said anything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418.md?page=4)